This invention concerns a motor vehicle windshield wiper comprising advanced means for articulating the wiper blade on a wiper arm.
This invention concerns more specifically a motor vehicle windshield wiper, of the type in which a wiper blade is articulated at the longitudinal front end of a wiper arm, around a transversal horizontal axis, via a connector that is articulated on the blade.
According to a known conception of the mounting articulated on a blade at the end of an arm, the connector is fit together elastically according to the radial direction on an articulation rod of the blade and the front end of the arm is longitudinally curved in order to form a hook in which the connector, once mounted on the blade, must be longitudinally inserted from the rear to the front.
For reasons of rigidity and compact size of articulation, but also for aesthetic questions, the connector is generally received between two lateral flanks of the blade that are linked via the articulation rod. In that way, the front end of the arm must also be received between the flanks of the arm, the front of the connector in relation to the blade in order to allow the insertion of the connector in the hook of the arm.
Such a mounting, if it presents reliability guarantees, reveals itself to be particularly delicate to perform and imposes that the blade presents, in the front of the articulation rod, an opening placed in an upper back of the blade in order to allow the insertion of the front end of the arm. Such an opening remains at least partially visible after the mounting of the blade on the arm.
A conception has already been proposed in which the articulation means of the blade on the arm allows an easy mounting and removal of the blade, even by a person who is not experienced. In effect, the vehicle""s owner is encouraged to regularly change their wiper blades and must be able to proceed through this operation in the simplest way possible.
Moreover, the wipers being visible parts on the exterior of the vehicle, it is desirable to give them an aesthetic character, while avoiding as much discontinuity in the form as possible.
A windshield wiper of the type described above was thus proposed, in which the connector comprises articulation means that are carried via two parallel, longitudinal, vertical flanks between which the blade is received, in which the flanks are transversally spread opposite each other towards a mounting position in order to allow the articulated mounting of the connector on the blade then are returned towards an articulation position in which the articulation means of the connector work with the complimentary means of the blade, and in which the flanks of the blade are received between two lateral flanges of the end of the arm that block the flanks of the connector from spreading transversally from their articulation position towards their mounting position.
The connector comprises a front body that is in the shape of an upside-down U in cross-section and which straddles the blade and thus the two flanks stretch towards the rear.
The connector is received by longitudinal sliding into the front end of the arm, and the connector comprises means for assuring its locking according to the longitudinal direction in relation to the arm. To this effect, the flanks of the connector are received via longitudinal sliding, each respectively in two holes defined by the internal sides opposite from the two lateral flanges of the front end of the arm and which are unblocked towards the front, and the connector is inserted longitudinally from the front to the rear between the lateral flanges.
The front end of the arm comprises an upper transversal back that joins the two flanges, the connector comprising an elastic tongue that reaches horizontally towards the rear when the front body to which it is linked by it front end forming a hinge with a horizontal axis, the tongue reaches opposite from an interior side of the back of the end of the arm, the tongue comprises a boss that is received in a corresponding aperture formed in the upper back of the arm in order to longitudinally block the connector in relation to the arm, and the boss is susceptible to be retracted towards the bottom via pivoting the elastic tongue in order to free the longitudinal blockage from the connector in relation to the arm.
The invention concerns an improvement to a wiper of this type specifically allowing the guarantee that the different pieces reside at least partially linked between them in case of a rupture of different parts of the means of articulation of the wiper blade on the wiper arm.
With this goal, the invention proposes a wiper of the type in which the connector comprises articulation means that are carried by two parallel, vertical, longitudinal flanks between which is received a central articulation part of the mounting element, of the type in which the connector comprises a front body that is the shape of an upside-down U in cross-section and which straddles the central articulation part of the mounting element and the two flanks that reach towards the rear in relation to the front body, of the type in which the connector is received via longitudinal sliding in the front end of the arm, and of the type in which the connector comprises the means to assure its blockage according to the longitudinal direction in relation to the arm, characterized by the connector comprises a holding rod that reaches vertically with play across from a hole formed opposite in the central articulation part of the mounting element.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the free lower end of the holding rod comprises a holding beak in order to keep the connector vertical, with play, in relation to the mounting element;
the holding rod is received longitudinally with play in the hole formed in a vertical slit with a longitudinal orientation;
the front end of the arm comprises an upper transversal back, the connector comprises an elastic tongue that reaches horizontally towards the rear while the front body to which it is linked via it front end forming a hinge with a horizontal axis, the tongue reaches opposite from a lower face from the lower back of the arm, the tongue comprising a boss that is received in a corresponding aperture formed in the upper back of the arm in order to longitudinally block the connector in relation to the arm, and the holding rod reaches vertically from the lower side of the tongue of the connector;
the boss is susceptible to be retracted towards the bottom via pivoting of the elastic tongue in order to free the longitudinal blocking of the connector in relation to the arm;
the front end of the arm comprises a rear abutment that, in the mounted position of the arm on the wiper blade, reaches opposite from a abutment surface oriented towards the front and that is formed opposite from an external lateral side of the mounting element;
the flanks of the connector are received between two lateral flanges of the front end of the arm, and the rear abutment is made up of a rear edge of a lateral flange;
the surface of the abutment oriented towards the front is a front edge that longitudinally marks a portion in relief of the external lateral face of the mounting element;
the portion in relief is vertically defined towards the top by an upper edge with a longitudinal orientation and inclined in order to make a guiding ramp of the front end of the arm during the mounting of the latter onto the connector;
the connector is inserted longitudinally from the front to the back between the lateral flanges of the front end of the wiper arm;
the flanks of the connector are spread transversally away from each other towards a mounting position in order to allow the articulated mounting of the connector on the central articulation part of the mounting element then are led towards an articulation position in which the articulation means of the connector cooperate with the complementary means of the mounting element, and the flanks of the mounting element of the blade are received between two lateral flanges of the end of the arm that prevent the flanks of the connector from spreading transversally from their articulation position towards their mounting position;
the flanks of the connector comprise two lugs notably cylindrical with a horizontal axis that reach away from each other while the sides opposite the two flanks, and which are designed to be received in the corresponding orifices of the sides of the central articulation part of the mounting element while the flanks are in the articulation position in order to assure the articulated mounting of the connector on the blade.